Don't leave me
by Cornelialovecaleb
Summary: Zack Fair is dead, and Cloud Strife seeks comfort from Aerith. Characters belongs to Square Enix, they're not mine.
1. Chapter 1

Don't leave me

**Don't leave me  
Chapter 1: betrayal****  
**Aerith sighed as she watched a bird fly over the roof of the church she was in. the lilies flew in the weak wind, and the scent of them spread around in the whole church. The pink dressed woman missed Zack, she had felt it, and she had felt the presence of him ever since the day they told her that he was dead. Still he wasn't here for real, but she could still smell him, feel him, he was still there, oh Gaia, she didn't want to let him go.

Cloud had spent most of his time in the church together with her, something that obviously made Tifa disappointed. The blonde man had sure been good company for her, because he kind of reminded her of Zack, the same eye colour, and kind of the same personality, the only difference was their hair colour, and the fact that Zack had been taller than Cloud. She blushed a bit, but didn't say anything.

Cloud sat in the middle of the church, in front of the lilies, face buried into his hands as he choked a sob. She could understand that he had a bad time, and wasn't sure if he cried or didn't, since she hadn't seen him cry before, not once. He removed the hands, but it wasn't any tears there, so obviously he wasn't crying. And it worried Aerith a little, it was human to cry, everyone cried once and awhile. But not Cloud, she bet that he gritted his teeth so hard to pull himself together, that it injured him. It was actually a wonder that he had any teethes left in his mouth at all, he bit them too hard. But she did understand that he had a hard time, his best friend had just passed away.

"Hey, it's going to be all right again you know." The brown braided girl muttered soft, so soft that it sounded like she nearly sang it. The woman embraced the blonde man and felt him trembling under her touch. She held her arms around his waist, and lent her chin on the top of his head.

"how can you say that it's going to be all right? It's my fault that he died!" Cloud hissed low for himself and closed his mako coloured eyes. Aerith's bright green eyes peered up, at the clouds through the whole in the church roof.

"don't blame yourself!" the brown haired braided woman whispered quietly, but Cloud only made a disapproved sound and tried to shake Aerith off, but she held him, and he kind of liked it, so he gave up.

"it was my fault Aerith! I betrayed him!" the blond man continued, but the woman shook her head and smiled for herself. He was wrong, she knew he was. Judging himself wouldn't make anything better, so she would stay with him, as long as he needed her.

"you did not betray him!" she muttered softly, and chuckled, even though she felt her heart break seeing him like this. He reminded her of Zack, that day when he was broken in her church, Cloud sat at the exact same spot as Zack had done, and Zack had been broken because of Angeal's death. Both of them needed comfort, so they were actually more similar than she had thought of before.

"I did! Everything's my fault!" she was pulled back to reality when she heard his sobbing voice. She knew he was wrong, and somehow she knew that he knew it too. Then she thought of Cloud's childhood friend, Tifa. Why was he here? Couldn't he stay home with his friend? Wouldn't she comfort him? Not that it bothered her; she appreciated the company he gave her.

"what does Tifa say about this?" Aerith wondered, and Cloud held his breath for a few seconds. He hadn't seen that one coming from her.

"I… I haven't exactly talked that much to her!" he sighed and looked up and into Aerith's green eyes. A pale smile wore her pink lips, and her light skin felt soft against his neck.

"you should!" she murmured and hugged him again, Cloud's eyes widened.

"no, I shouldn't!" the blonde man shook his head, but Aerith nodded.

"I'm sure she would have understood it, and supported you!"

"Please… I don't want to leave you… please… let me stay here" he clung tighter to Aerith; death gripped her like he was trying to hold onto his own life. Like he was on the edge of a cliff, half falling, and half safe.

"Cloud"

"I like it here…" he sobbed, and Aerith's heart broke again.

"Cloud!"

"Aerith please! I can't go back to her, not yet…"

"look…"

"please… can't I stay here?"

"I guess you can… only for a little while at least"

"I don't like how it ended"

"what ended?"

"Zack's death… it was unfair!"

"he saved you, and you are the evidence that he lived! Please, he wanted you to live on for him!"

"he also wanted me to take care of you"

"the only thing I request is that you take care of yourself first"

"I" Cloud started, but was interfered by Aerith..

"please, Cloud… I'll be all right when you're all right! There was nothing you could have done anyway!"

_Authors note:  
Chapter's done, short chapter, but I'll make the next one longer. I'll update soon, I promise, but the characters does not belong to me, they belong to Square Enix. All FF7 characters (C) Square Enix. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Don't leave me**

_Chapter 2: Don't leave me behind _

_Aerith was sitting on the ground with Cloud sound asleep on her lap. She smiled a little, he seemed so worked up for some minutes ago, and now he had finally managed to calm himself. She did watch him whimper sometimes, but she thought that it was caused by pain in his muscles, or cramps of some sort. Scents of lilies hit her nose trills, the sun bathed her light brown her and her green eyes glittered like the finest gems. She was determined to watch over him, no matter what happened. He had begged her not to leave him, and she was willing to let him stay for as long as he desired. She found it kind of funny, but something about Cloud reminded her of Zack, she couldn't put her finger on it, but sometimes she saw similarities in their behaviours. _

"_Zack… no… please run… RUN ZACK" Cloud pleaded as he slept, he started kicking and Aerith looked down to find him whimpering on the grass. She gently touched his shoulder, trying to soothe him. In the beginning Aerith didn't understand where the voice was coming from, since nobody else could be seen. Then she realised that the blonde man was talking in his sleep. A nightmare, she mused and closed her green eyes. She knew enough about nightmares, as the last Cetra she had nightmares about the experiments they would put her through, she would dream that she was dying and then waking up in panic. "Cloud?" she whispered calmly, he still hadn't managed to wake up. Watching him like this, tormented even when he tried to get some sleep worried Aerith. She was not prepared for the howl that left his lips moments later, it sounded like somebody or something was torturing him to death. She grabbed him from underneath and pulled him towards her, slowly running her hand through his hair. "Cloud… come on" she muttered, still no reaction she could still see that he was trapped in his nightmare. "I'm sorry Zack… I'm so sorry, Gaia I'm so sorry" Cloud chanted and violently trashed around, she knew that he would never hurt her on purpose, but Cloud nearly hit her. She gazed to the corner of the church, she had hid a box there filled with all the letters that Zack had written to her. Although she had read them like a 100 times, she still enjoyed reading them while she felt lonely. Finally it seemed like Cloud had escaped from his nightmare, because he had an alarming expression, which sooner calmed. "If you don't mind me saying this Cloud, I think Zack would have preferred it if you moved on. I know it will take some time to get your wounds healed, but regretting a happening for the rest of your life isn't the way to live.""I failed to save him, I can't protect anyone!" Cloud claimed and a soft wail escaped his lungs. "you're forgiven Cloud, I'm sure of it" she grinned, her fingers brushed through some of his yellow spikes, they felt so soft against her fingertips. Nearly as soft as clouds, she mused. "please…" Cloud paused, inhaled, then exhaled and stared into her genuine green eyes. "promise me that you will never leave me behind" a soft giggle, similar to a bird song escaped her peach coloured lips. "you know that answer very well Cloud, I'll never ever leave you behind."_

"_Have you ever seen a clear blue sky?" she wondered, Cloud tilted his head and touched his forehead. He was too exhausted to know where he really was. Aerith sighed and then she continued. "I've seen it a couple of times, the first time I saw a clear blue sky was when I dated Zack, that day had a clear blue sky, no clouds could be seen. The second time…" she paused, inhaled a deep breath and prepared to continue. "The second time was when I gazed into Zack's eyes, they looked like a clear sky to me. every time I stared into his eyes I was reminded of the sky that I had never seen." she touched his hand, rubbed her thumb over his fingers and gave him a sincere smile. She missed him, just as much as he did. She brushed some grass off from her pink dress, and rose to her feet. "I think doing something else would be good for both of us, we don't have to forget about Zack. We will remember him, in a healthy way…" she paused and stared at the tip of her left shoe, then she stared at Cloud. "Want to help me selling some flowers?" she murmured softly and reached him her hand, he eagerly accepted it and she helped him to his feet. Each flower she sold would cost 1 Gil, she hadn't sold any since Zack's death. It had bugged her too much, now that they both needed to do something, she figured that he could help her. _


End file.
